The Saving Power of Addiction

"Better an appetite for destruction then to hunger for nothing!"

I find it interesting that we have such a negative view of people with addictions. We often look at them as being 'broken' or 'incomplete' - and why? Because they have directed their hunger towards something that has taken control of their body, mind and will? Are they 'broken' because they allowed themselves to listen to the hunger deep within their spirits? The part of their soul that graves a deeper more fulfilled life! I think we may have it backwards. I think that people with addictions are far more alive then many of us are. They have an advantage on us! Sure, maybe not in the fact that their lives look like a big mess, their struggling to make ends meet and on the verge of losing their health, but they have something that many of us do not - they recognize that they want more! They are searching for a deeper more meaningful existence and they will do anything to experience it!!

Last year we did a series at our Church called "Pure Sex". One of my favourite messages was entitled "Directile Misfunction". It focused us on the reality that many of the sexual addictions we have in our culture today stem from our deep need to experience love, affection and intimacy. All things that God longs to share with us! However, we often misdirect that hunger towards things that we think will satisfy our cravings but they leave us feeling used and empty.

A quote used during the series was from G.K. Chesteton - "Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God." It was a great image of the truth behind many of our longings - our longing to experience the transcendent life. The abundant life of Christ!

Now as a young man growing up in the church, I was surrounded by a way of thinking that said I should 'put those things to death'. Pray that God would remove your desire for carnal things! I was surrounded by well meaning religious people who communicated that we should RUN from our unbridled passion. And what happened? Most of us ended up suffocating the soul inside of us. The very thing that was intended to lead us into life was put to death! The result (at least in my experience) has been a generation of people who are passionless, lifeless and have lost their hunger for just about everything!

But a funny, and redemptive, thing has been happening in my life over the past number of years. God is continually bringing me into relationship with people who have addictive tendencies. People with deep cravings/passions that have taken over a good portion of their life. They are being led by their hunger. Some of them crave affection and physical intimacy, others crave acceptance and still others crave the comfort brought on by food. Each of us has recognized that we have a longing deep within us that not only wants to be met, but NEEDS to be met.

But here's the best part! We are learning together that our appetites are not only good at destroying our lives, they are great for driving us into the presence of God! The very hunger that burns out of control in us, the hunger that runs after gross unhealthy manifestations is being turned towards God. It is fueling our worship, our prayer and passionate living for Christ. And we are having our diets changed. Our pallets changed! As we eat of the good things that God has for us we are losing our appetite for destruction and developing a new appetite for everything good and true. We are learning in a very practical way that our appetite does not have to be reduced, or governed - it simply needs to be redirected into life!

It is causing me to lament the passionless generation that I see all around me. People who have been challenged to put their very life to death for fear of being enslaved by sin and compromise. People who's fear of uncontrolled lust has rid them of their ability to experience God as the lover of their souls.

Today my heart goes out to the passionless Bride of Christ who has lost her hunger and wastes away in a life of spiritual anorexia. God would you awaken our hunger! Would you satisfy our souls!